Tell us what you want out of Nintendo's next console.

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After about a decade of relative dominance with the NES and Super NES, followed by a decade of relative also-ran status with the Nintendo 64 and GameCube, Nintendo shocked the gaming world with the stratospheric success of the Wii. With a rock-bottom price, innovative new motion-sensitive controller, and the easy-to-understand, everyman appeal of games like Wii Sports and Wii Fit, the system went on to ship nearly 100 million units worldwide. But for its wide commercial success, many long-time gamers quickly grew disillusioned with the Wii, thanks to underpowered hardware that couldn't handle HD graphics and a software library that came to be dominated by nearly skill-free, "waggle-the-controller" mini-game collections.

With the Wii U, Nintendo seems to be trying to recapture the original Wii's sales magic while at the same time mollifying some of the lifelong gamers disillusioned by its predecessor. Instead of the motion-sensitive remote, the new control gimmick is a touchscreen tablet controller that can be used to play games while the TV is otherwise occupied, or to present secret information to only one player during multiplayer games. For more traditional gamers, the company is stressing the system's long-overdue HD graphics support, greater support for downloadable games, an Xbox 360-style controller option, and Wii U conversions for titles ranging from Batman: Arkham City to the upcoming Aliens: Colonial Marines.

On Thursday, Nintendo seems set to finally nail down the details of the promised "holiday season" launch and price point for the Wii U at a New York press event, officially ushering in the "next generation" of home game consoles. The announcement will likely also include the final details of the system's hardware specifications and which titles we can expect during the months-long "launch window." (We'll be there to liveblog the proceedings.)

Before that big announcement, we're asking you, Ars readers, what would it take to get you interested in purchasing the Wii U? Is there a certain price point where the system goes from "impulse buy" to "think about it" to "forget it"? Is there a certain company or game series whose appearance on the system would finally prove to you that Nintendo has resolved its historically bad relations with many third-party publishers? Would more openness to independent developers or player-created content win you over? Maybe Nintendo never lost your support, or perhaps there's nothing you can picture them doing that will win you back.

Whatever the case, leave your thoughts in the comments below, and we'll choose some of the best to feature here ahead of Nintendo's big announcement on Thursday.

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Kyle Orland
Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in the Washington, DC area. Emailkyle.orland@arstechnica.com//Twitter@KyleOrl

209 Reader Comments

A good set of games. I want to buy, but it's hard to ignore the dominance of other consoles in 3rd party games. And then look at Android/iOS gaming... it's going to try and make a push for the living room. Nintendo (and everyone) will have to fight for my wallet. They better bring something good.

Though, I will say, I've gravitated toward handhelds more now. I'm hesitant on a 3DS because I have no interest in a 3D screen. But give me a 3DS XL sized handheld with the main screen at 720p... I want this.

As of right now, count me out for Wii U. Especially, as someone mentioned before, if Nintendo decides to retain its "kiddy status". I'd like the feel of a traditional controller and think both the PS3 and 360 controllers are great. I could never get used to the wand and nunchuk thing. The original Wii has literally only had maybe what, 20-30 gaming hrs on it since I bought it 2 years ago. Any use it does see is from the Netflix app. I'll save my cash for either Sony or Microsofts next offerings. If the Wii U does have some hardcore gamer type games on there and the controls aren't too gimicky, then I'll give it a second look.

I'll still be onboard for Nintendo's first-party offerings. The problem they have is that they can't hold people's attention all on their own. There's just too much development time between major game offerings.

I'd like to see third-party support on par with what's available with PS3 and Xbox.

Nothing about the system has me convinced that it's going to pander any less to the lowest common denominator of skill. Nintendo seems only further entrenched in the gimmicky/wagglan gamer audience.

I've owned every Nintendo console since the NES and this time I'm saying no.

They can't ignore the numbers that Wii Sports or 2D Mario sells, it'd be commercial suicide.

Wii Sports sales shouldn't count, they're included with every console. I'm not saying they shouldn't ignore their big sellers, but they're certainly ignoring the base that brought them the level of success they're enjoying now.

I'll still be onboard for Nintendo's first-party offerings. The problem they have is that they can't hold people's attention all on their own. There's just too much development time between major game offerings..

Why is that? The NES had three Mario games, six Mega Man games. The Playstation had three FF games. Reduce game development time from '3-5 years' to '1-2 years' by making games 2D and reusing the tech and gameplay; just make more levels and new art/soundtrack for each installment, because those are the things people enjoy being new.

Nintendo have a knack for creating incredibly fun games. They take risks and innovate and I appreciate that immensely. The industry would be a lot duller without them, competition is good for business & customers.

Whether the Wii U is the best thing since sliced bread remains to be seen, but I'm happy to give them my money up front for a ticket to the Wii U show. I think they may be on to something as they will have the first integrated solution that combines a tablet style controller with big screen TV interaction at an affordable price that non-techies can use. It has mass market written all over it.

I'd kill to have dev access to one of them and play around or make an indie game, I did a university project on the Wii & the Wii Remote back in 2006 and it was fascinating. The build quality and careful thought that went into the interface between human and computer was amazing, some would say only a few companies like Apple have that "magic touch".

My friends and I still play a lot of Wii - Sports Resort Table Tennis is the king, loser stays on. Simple but with incredible depth.

Nothing about the system has me convinced that it's going to pander any less to the lowest common denominator of skill. Nintendo seems only further entrenched in the gimmicky/wagglan gamer audience.

I've owned every Nintendo console since the NES and this time I'm saying no.

They can't ignore the numbers that Wii Sports or 2D Mario sells, it'd be commercial suicide.

Wii Sports sales shouldn't count, they're included with every console. I'm not saying they shouldn't ignore their big sellers, but they're certainly ignoring the base that brought them the level of success they're enjoying now.

The N64 sold 30m. The GC sold 20m. That is the extent of Nintendo's base.

The NES and SNES sold sold 60m and 50m. The Wii will sell 100m. Those consoles were based on much simpler games with mass appeal rather than big 3D productions and sold far higher.

Wii Sports DOES count because it was the reason for those Wiis being sold. How else would it be the second highest selling console of all time? Because of Mario Galaxy or Twilight Princess? People were buying a Wii they didn't want to get at Wii Sports which they did want. Also it wasn't bundled in Japan and was still their highest selling game by far.

Look at their stock price and earnings to see when they were genuinely successful. It wasn't during the appeal-to-the-Nintendo-core days.

Nothing about the system has me convinced that it's going to pander any less to the lowest common denominator of skill. Nintendo seems only further entrenched in the gimmicky/wagglan gamer audience.

I've owned every Nintendo console since the NES and this time I'm saying no.

They can't ignore the numbers that Wii Sports or 2D Mario sells, it'd be commercial suicide.

Wii Sports sales shouldn't count, they're included with every console. I'm not saying they shouldn't ignore their big sellers, but they're certainly ignoring the base that brought them the level of success they're enjoying now.

The N64 sold 30m. The GC sold 20m. That is the extent of Nintendo's base.

The NES and SNES sold sold 60m and 50m. The Wii will sell 100m. Those consoles were based on much simpler games with mass appeal rather than big 3D productions and sold far higher.

Wii Sports DOES count because it was the reason for those Wiis being sold. How else would it be the second highest selling console of all time? Because of Mario Galaxy or Twilight Princess? People were buying a Wii they didn't want to get at Wii Sports which they did want. Also it wasn't bundled in Japan and was still their highest selling game by far.

Look at their stock price and earnings to see when they were genuinely successful. It wasn't during the appeal-to-the-Nintendo-core days.

For all their success though, they're not bothering to appeal to me anymore. Which is why I won't be getting one.

I want a Zelda game that isn't the exact same crap as the last 5 Zelda games. 1st party titles have been so stale in general that there's little reason to bother with WiiU. And making another OoT remake just with controller screen support doesn't count as "fresh" and "a whole new experience".

Disagree! An HD remake of Twilight Princess, or Wind Waker, or a 3D remake of the original Link to the Past, would get me.

Also, re-releasing all of the GBA/DS/3DS Pokemon on the Wii would work, too.

And this would be why Nintendo hasn't made an original game since Pikmin.

Sorry, the hardware is too underpowered. The lack of HD sticks out like a sore thumb on Wii games at this point. In 5 years, what will this thing look like compared to the PS4, XBox 720, or the Steam Engine (ahem)?

I could care less about the tablet controller. It's likely to be neat, but that kind of thing didn't do a lot on the Dreamcast VMU.

My Wii is still hooked up. I don't need to rebuy the same Nintendo games from the last 25 years. (If only their online system allowed me to redownload them to new hardware...)

Pass. If it gets to $100 with HDMI cable and tablet with Super Mario Wii U 4 and full Wii backwards compat, I'll reconsider.

I just want to know what's inside the thing, to know how much more powerful than current consoles it is. Yeah yeah, graphics aren't all that matters, yada yada, but they do lend a console longevity, look at the Wii. May have had the strongest hardware sales, but how many AAA games are coming out now?

"I loved Nintendo when I was a kid. But now it's directed at kids. So I'm not interested."

Keep in mind, their HOLY GRAIL system, the N64, Nintendo would not allow the main character in Quest 64 to have a sword because that would make it "Too Violent." Twilight Princess was one of the darker Nintendo games ever made.

I love Nintendo but I am underwhelmed at the games announced so far for release (I'm not a Pikmin fan). I think I will hold off until I see a game that's worth the purchase. On the other hand, I can't seem to put down my 3DS!! The most under appreciated system out there!

Sorry, the hardware is too underpowered. The lack of HD sticks out like a sore thumb on Wii games at this point. In 5 years, what will this thing look like compared to the PS4, XBox 720, or the Steam Engine (ahem)?

We don't know what's in it yet, how do you know it's underpowered? Statements from developers have contradicted one another, some say it's quite powerful (compared to 7 year old consoles, not modern PCs of course), while others say it's a bit weaker.

Getting every game I ever purchased from Nintendo with my hard-earned cash on the console itself, without me having to pay out the whazoo for it again. Having to re-start my collection each time a new piece of hardware rolls out is annoying. Even a netflix-like thing for games would work, provided it had nearly all titles.

"I loved Nintendo when I was a kid. But now it's directed at kids. So I'm not interested."

Keep in mind, their HOLY GRAIL system, the N64, Nintendo would not allow the main character in Quest 64 to have a sword because that would make it "Too Violent." Twilight Princess was one of the darker Nintendo games ever made.

You people....

I'm getting the WiiU without a doubt.

ummm...so 007 and Perfect Dark, where you ran around with guns and shot people - that's fine. Call of Duty on Wii with an accessory that was shaped just like a gun and held the motion controller to make it more "realistic" - also fine. Quest 64 with a sword - that's going over the line? Not suggesting you are the reason to blame for their backwards thinking (assuming what you wrote is true) but these things I mention clearly show that they are capable and willing to allow adult oriented content onto the system. But why would I choose to get a Nintendo console to play Call of Duty when I can have a much better experience with it on any of the other platforms the game is available for?

First off, the original Japanese Wii didn't have any pack-in game (even though it was priced nearly the same as the US version), therefore you have to count Wii Sports sales separately.

When the Wii launched in the US, I fervently scoured the area to find one. It took around a month, but I eventually found one. I bought Twilight Princess with it. When I got home, I pretty much had to march into work, but I had to see the TP startup screen. It was beautiful. Still is, really. Even in 480p, the art itself stands up.

But I don't play my Wii nearly as much anymore. I have a mid-range gaming laptop that runs most anything I want to play beautifully.

I guess for me to have the same excitement as I had with the Wii, the Big N will have to have a compelling launch lineup, backwards compatibility (with all games *and* peripherals I have, looking at my Rock Band "instruments"), a simple way to transfer my Wii's DLC over (My wife and I have a ton of Rock Band 3 downloads)... and a sizable, *standards-compliant* hard disk. They had too shortsighted a view of how important DLC/Digital distribution would be, and the lousy SD card slot on the Wii was never anything but a cramped disappointment. If they would have been willing to sacrifice a little bit of size (the Wii main unit always felt small to me), they could've built support in for SATA laptop drives...

Ideally, a new Zelda game would be nice, but I'm not holding my breath. A Metroid Prime game would be sweet, but again, kinda doubt it - Retro Studios is working on something for the Wii U, but I doubt it's M:P let alone a launch title. I think Capcom missed an opportunity on the Wii with Monster Hunter - a better HD MH would be nice too. My wife loves brawlers, and while Tatsunoko vs Capcom and SSBB were fun, she's always been a Soul Caliber fan, and the lack of a Soul Caliber game on the Wii was a major sticking point with her.

But lets face it, their digital distribution policies need radical change. They charge too much for outright crap (stuff I expect to be free, like mario-themed alarm clocks for the DSi/3DS, come to mind, simple apps, stuff like that), they shaft and under-support indie devs (just look through the opposable thumbs archives for more than one dev's horror stories of dealing with Nintendo), and a lot of the good WiiWare games I can find PC ports cheaper on Steam or elsewhere. I think if I'm apprehensive about buying the Wii U, I think this is the number one reason why: their digital distribution strategy.

And with Valve seriously considering getting into the console market with a Linux-based box, that seriously should scare Nintendo into changing their digital distribution strategies. Valve could force both AMD and NVIDIA to put more effort into their drivers (heck, they already have, L4D2 runs even better under Linux, likely thanks to less OS overhead and fewer hardware abstraction layers).

That is my thoughts on it exactly. The Wii U offers a number of unique gameplay experiences, such as asymmetric gameplay. Instead of just being just like the other guys, they need to embrace those differences, and leverage them to make awesome games. That is what the Wii did, and that is what the Wii U will have to do.

That is my thoughts on it exactly. The Wii U offers a number of unique gameplay experiences, such as asymmetric gameplay. Instead of just being just like the other guys, they need to embrace those differences, and leverage them to make awesome games. That is what the Wii did, and that is what the Wii U will have to do.

Unlike motion control, that gimmick is going to wear out fast. All the good ideas were used for 1v3 Mario Party minigames and Nintendo Land.

No, they need to realise that great games don't need the hardware gimmick to sell (NSMB Wii sold 25m).

I am a bit disappointed by nintendo's WiiU, so far. The controller seems to me, a crippled version of the Nintendo DS.

I was hoping to see the next Nintendo Home Entertainment System establish itself as something like the Apple TV. I would have liked to see a system that added to the current Nintendo DS experience, using the DS as a controller, but providing a cooperative/competitive experience with several DS owning friends, on the TV. Additionally, such a platform could provide an method to buy games, but keep them stored on a device other than the DS. I would have liked to see mirroring of the DS screens onto the TV.

As is, the WiiU will not be something I will buy as a stand alone system. However, I am interested in the 3DS XL so, nintendo may have an opening for the WiiU with me, yet.

Likely not. I haven't personally owned a Nintendo console since the NES, and the Wii didn't do anything to sway me back. If anything, it only pushed me farther away with its derivative uses for motion control and constant inundation of casual games. My wife purchased a Wii almost two years ago and neither of us have used it in about that long. Save for a few of Nintendo's standouts, nothing interests me about the Wii U.

Waiting for the games. I still haven't played Skyward Sword, and I actually enjoyed Twilight Princess quite a bit. I just...want more. I'll wind up picking one up eventually, likely. But it's not going to be a day-one purchase for me, and I lined up for a Wii.

I don't know...I'm just waiting this time. My Wii just didn't see enough use to justify launch price.

I do play games, but not heavily or often enough to justify a single-purpose game machine, when I've already got a single device that lets me play games, use the internet, do my schoolwork, listen to radio from around the world, watch tv/movies, etc.

Nope. The Wii U controller looks like an ergonomic nightmare, much too big and heavy to hold up for extended periods. Gaming on an iPad is bad enough, but this is ridiculous. How Nintendo has been able to go this far with such an impractical design, it's difficult to know, and sad to behold. This is like the Power Glove revisited.

Not realy interested in the WiiU. I didn't even get a Wii, PS3 or Xbox360. It just so happened this generation of consoles had plenty of games that were also eventually released on PC. I dare say amongst AAA titles, it's at least 50% that went multiplatform. Which means I could play most games just by owning a PC. And I can't even finish them due to time constraints so I had no opportunity to consider getting a console to play more games. I have a DS, 3DS and PSP for mobile gaming, though. (Mostly Monster Hunter)

Nintendo has seemed to try and rely on gimmicks to get its products to market. Sometimes they're good, like having a touch screen on the DS (though less than 10 games made use of the touch screen in a challenging way). Though stuff like the Wiimote, adds a bit of depth to gameplay, but in the end did not really have a big impact on gaming.

I'm not interested in Mario or Zelda or Metroid... I'd rather see Nintendo come up with something more original. If they can come up with a really original IP that feels like it uses the hardware in a challenging way, not a 'gimmick-y' way, then I'd consider getting a WiiU.

Disagree! An HD remake of Twilight Princess, or Wind Waker, or a 3D remake of the original Link to the Past, would get me.

I would buy a Wii U just for the chance to play an HD 3D version of LTTP, even if it meant having it collect dust for the rest of it's life! I'd probably buy it also if there's a remake of Pokemon Snap...

Nintendo makes a handful of truly great first-party titles with each generation. But overall, the N64 didn't get enough support and there weren't enough "must have" titles for said console.

The Gamecube never delivered the proper Super Mario 64 sequel, and largely never delivered.

The Wii proved to be a very popular gimmick that gathers dust and no longer sells games.

Now that they're presenting a console that once again likely will be grossly under-powered in comparison to the competition (with a likely very expensive tablet controller), where only one person can use the new controller, and said new controller is akin to shaking a controller in the air, I have even less faith in the Wii U than I had before. I can't see Nintendo winning me back with home console hardware anytime soon.

I really wish they'd just release games for Sony and Microsoft's hardware.